


A Christmas Gift

by Gallowmere



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: (also implied) - Freeform, (implied) - Freeform, All the romance is implied, Also a literal Christmas gift, Christmas, DSOD, Friendship gang moments, Gen, It's more a cosy fic than anything else, Oneshot, Prideshipping, Regalshipping, Sequel to Prison of the Soul, post dsod
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallowmere/pseuds/Gallowmere
Summary: Seto Kaiba had no desire to hang out with Yugi & the gang any more than necessary. He will, however, make an exception for a Christmas party that he's dragging a newly resurrected Pharaoh to... [Post-DSOD, sequel to Prison of the Soul/oneshot]
Relationships: Atem & Kaiba Seto, Atem & Mutou Yuugi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	A Christmas Gift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EgyptianSapphireDragons](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=EgyptianSapphireDragons).



> A/N: A short follow up to Prison of the Soul, but can be read as a oneshot – all you need to know is that it’s set post-DSOD, where Kaiba has used his science know-how to find a way for Atem to exist in the living world, and has basically persuaded him not to spend all his time in the Afterlife. It’s been quite a while since I last wrote for YGO, so I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Dedicated to EgyptianSapphireDragons! Happy Christmas, friend :D

A/N: A short follow up to Prison of the Soul, but can be read as a oneshot – all you need to know is that it’s set post-DSOD, where Kaiba has used his science know-how to find a way for Atem to exist in the living world, and has basically persuaded him not to spend all his time in the Afterlife. It’s been quite a while since I last wrote for YGO, so I hope you enjoy!

Dedicated to EgyptianSapphireDragons! Happy Christmas, friend :D 

A Christmas Gift

Seto drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and cast a sidelong look at the impossible man sitting next to him in the car. The Pharaoh was leaning back in the leather seat, his modern clothing mixed with golden jewellery that caught the eye, even as he had his hood up to cover his hair. They were travelling to the surprise Kaiba had arranged under the cover of nightfall, but the Pharaoh was still concerned about being spotted and awkward questions being asked. 

Atem looked over at him, noticing Kaiba’s scrutiny and Kaiba redirected his eyes to the road, maintaining his poker face. The Pharaoh’s powers of perception had always been uncanny and Kaiba couldn’t risk him sensing something was up now of all times. 

Not when an awkward question or two was about to become the least of his problems. 

As if on cue, Atem asked, “So where are we going? Somewhere in Domino?”

“Yes,” Kaiba said, turning the corner. Atem frowned, folding his arms. 

“No, but where? You know it’s best I’m not around crowds, just in case-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kaiba said, flipping off the indicator. “I get it already. Hasn’t your stay in Domino been above reproach so far?”

“I wasn’t saying that, it’s just that-”

“We’ve booked the place for ourselves,” Mokuba piped up from the back seat. He’d elected to let Atem have shotgun since he’d wanted to get some work done on his laptop as they drove, and Kaiba – with his own workaholic habits – hadn’t found the heart to tell him off for it. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”

Atem looked around at him, said beseechingly, “Hey, Mokubaaaa~?”

“Sorry, Pharaoh! I can’t tell you.”

Atem scowled, settling back into his seat and fixing Kaiba with another hard look. “If it’s just us, I don’t see why you can’t tell me what the deal is…”

Kaiba chuckled, catching Mokuba’s eye in the rear-view mirror and smirking. Mokuba smiled back, but it was a tense, uncomfortable one. He wasn’t the best at keeping secrets and Seto knew he was conflicted about his brother’s plans. 

Seto felt no such guilt, however. He knew this was a necessary step. 

Atem was still yammering next to him. “So, it’s something to do with duelling, right? I bet it is.”

“Atem, I’m not telling you.”

“But why do we need to go somewhere for that? No offence but, well, you don’t exactly seem like the Christmas type.” He turned in his seat. “Mokuba, was it your idea?”

Mokuba quickly shook his head. “No, no. It definitely wasn’t my idea.”

Seto caught his eye in the mirror, an unspoken warning not to say any more in his own blue eyes. Mokuba quickly leant back in his seat, turning his attention to his laptop again. 

They were coming close to their destination now, anyway, close enough that it was becoming obvious where they were heading. Atem pressed himself against the window and Seto could practically feel the relief coming off him as he said, “The Kaiba Dome? That’s where we’re going? Oh, right – you closed it for the holidays?”

I closed it for a private function, Seto thought, but he didn’t say that. He just turned the car to swing them into the parking lot at the back, taking the one nearest the door. Mokuba snapped his laptop shut and popped his door open, saying, “Don’t lock up! I need to get a present out of the boot.”

Atem climbed out, lowering his hood just a fraction and leaning against the side as he waited for Kaiba to get out, too. “A present? For who?”

Mokuba lifted an entire bag out of the boot, complete with sparkly ribbon. Atem raised an eyebrow, the suspicious look returning. “Kaiba?” he said accusingly but Kaiba just walked off, forcing him to follow. For a second he worried Atem would round on Mokuba again, but instead he raced after Kaiba, the look on his face indicating he was starting to spoil for a fight. 

“Kaiba,” he demanded, the name delivered the way only Atem could: a mixture of self-righteous judgement and challenging anger. “What is going on? Who are we meeting? If this is some stunt you’re pulling with your investors, I swear-”

He’d followed Kaiba all the way up to the doors. Kaiba grinned – no going back now – and threw them open. 

Inside were the exact people Kaiba had hoped to see – Yugi and the others. 

The casual conversation stopped dead. They all stood staring at Atem and the Pharaoh stared back, the colour steadily draining from his face. 

“Other me?” Yugi whispered. 

“Yu-” Atem started to say, but then Jonouchi broke from the group to grab him by the shoulders, checking he was solid for all of a second before he laughed aloud and scooped Atem up in the biggest bear hug he could manage. 

Kaiba met Yugi’s eye and raised an eyebrow. “Told you I’d bring a better present than all of you,” he said, grinning. 

Atem tried to turn around while trapped in the bone-crushing hug, fixing Kaiba with a glare. “Kaiba! Did you-”

“Is it really you?” Yugi said, cautiously joining the group surrounding Atem. He found Atem’s hand and took hold of it, gasping when the fingers he squeezed were soft and solid. 

“Merry Christmas, Yugi,” Mokuba said shyly, sticking his bag of presents down on a nearby table stuffed with party food. 

Kaiba, meanwhile, was watching Atem. The Pharaoh looked stunned, half hugging Jonouchi back and half returning Yugi’s wide-eyed, deer in the headlights look. 

“Yes,” Atem managed. “Yes, it’s really me.”

That was all it took to break the spell – Yugi, Anzu and Honda all rushed forwards to join in the hug while everyone else in the room stared on, slack-jawed, until they broke into excited chatter and smiles. 

“Man, I can’t believe this,” Jonouchi said, half-laughing, half-crying. “Is this real? How are you here?”

“Well, I’m...I was…” Atem was more lost for words than Kaiba had seen him in some time, looking over at the CEO with a look of consternation and shock. 

Mokuba sidled up to Kaiba, shaking his head with a fond little smile. “I told you we should have told him.”

Kaiba smirked. “If it had been just that,” he said softly, noticing the tension in Atem’s face, even as the Pharaoh was plainly elated to see the others, “He never would have come.”

~ ~

Kaiba came to regret having set up Atem to run into the rest of the group, but not for the reasons Atem probably would have hoped. With the Pharaoh’s arrival, he’d become the centre of the attention as everyone and anyone wanted to speak with him. Kaiba found it amazing but not completely surprising that barely anyone asked him how the Pharaoh had returned, at least not in any specific detail. They were all more interested in the two of them personally, and how and what both Kaiba and Atem had been doing since they had last seen one another. 

Atem was naturally with the main four most of the time, chatting happily with them about everything they’d been up to in the last six month. The Pharaoh’s face looked like it couldn’t contain the pride he felt hearing of Anzu’s progress abroad, or Jonouchi’s nonsense idea to become a pro duelist. 

Nothing brightened his features more than hearing from Yugi, though – how he worked in the shop while developing an idea for a new game, a game of his own. 

“That sounds incredible,” Atem enthused as they all sat around the table and ate. Atem didn’t need to eat, of course, so he’d been simply barraging everyone else with questions. “So – is it going to be a computer game? Or a tabletop game?”

“Oh – well.” Yugi swallowed a bite of the hamburger he’d been wolfing down. The shock of the situation had apparently gone straight to his stomach – he’d been eating almost as much as Jonouchi had, and that was saying something. “That really depends on how much funding I can get and who I can work with to make it happen. I have some big ideas, but I’ll probably have to limit the scope at first…” 

The enthusiasm he’d had describing the game to Atem faded as he spoke, and the Pharaoh noticed. Atem shifted in his seat, his gaze turning to the rest of the table and falling on Kaiba for the first time since that morning. 

“Why don’t you have Kaiba Corp publish it?” Atem said. “Or distribute it, or whatever it’s called.”

All eyes turned to Kaiba, the chatter fading somewhat. Atem looked momentarily thrown and Kaiba groaned softly to himself. He’d brought Atem to this damn party for the Pharaoh’s benefit primarily, not so the short monarch could get the wrong idea that he was all buddy-buddy with Yugi and his cheerleaders now. 

But Atem shifted to giving Kaiba a stern look, seeming to say You can do this much after what you pulled earlier. 

Kaiba raised an eyebrow and gave him a look right back, but he set down his glass of fizzy-whatever-it-was and said, “I could do that. Assuming you can put together a brief good enough for KC to consider.”

Jonouchi sputtered indignantly. “Ya serious, rich boy? Yugi’ll produce a game greater than anything you’ve put out in years!”

“Big words for the mutt who’s still trying to break into the intermediate tournaments for Duel Monsters,” Kaiba snapped back. 

“Kaiba,” Atem said, the usual warning tone back in his voice. Then he blinked and turned to Jonouchi. “Wait, intermediate tournaments? Not pro ones?”

Jonouchi scowled, leaning back in his seat while Honda chuckled knowingly next to him. “Well, no. See, Pharaoh-”

“Atem,” Atem corrected quietly.

“Atem, right. There’s this thing called a rating that all duelists have. Back in Battle City, it was a basic star system, but it’s got a lot more complicated since then.”

“How so?”

“Well, it tracks your wins and losses, basically.”

“But you were a semi-finalist at Duelist Kingdom and a finalist in Battle City. How aren’t you higher rated?”

“Yeah, well…” Jonouchi scratched his nose, looking sheepish. “I was never ‘sposed to be in either of those tournaments, Atem. So those wins didn’t really contribute towards a registered profile, and I had to start over.”

Atem’s shoulders dropped and he said, simply, “Oh. Well, I’m sure you’ll make up the difference soon.”

“How about you?” Mai said. She’d been quiet for awhile, looking at the Pharaoh with a thoughtful look on her face. “What are you planning to do? Will you join up the tournament circuits? After all, your rating should be second to none.”

The Pharaoh tensed and the rest of the table turned from Kaiba to look back at him. Yugi beamed happily at him, about to say something encouraging, but the look on the Pharaoh’s face was frozen and unhappy, and Yugi went quiet. 

“No, of course not,” Atem said. “I-I know it’s Christmas, but I need to remind you all… it’s been a secret that I’ve returned. For obvious reasons, but-” 

Mai raised an eyebrow and chuckled as Atem shucked off his coat right there at the table and rolled his sleeve up to expose the generator Kaiba had created and refined. 

Jonouchi took hold of Atem’s arm to look closer at it, his jaw dropping with a, “Whoah…” as he and the rest of the table stared at it. 

Atem fidgeted under their scrutiny – like he’d been doing all night, Kaiba couldn’t help but notice – but he straightened up and said, “This and my own magic is the only way I’m able to sustain myself in this realm. I couldn’t possibly enter a tournament under my own name – under any name. The questions it would bring – the danger my power creates, it just…”

“For how long?” Kaiba said, cutting him off. 

Their eyes locked and Atem frowned. Since Kaiba had talked Atem into visiting Domino more than once, their arguments had moved to Kaiba trying to get Atem to engage with the world in one way or another. He’d started small, with just getting Atem to meet Yugi and the others again, but Atem had been so insistent that they had to wait until after Christmas that Kaiba had considered just locking Atem in the boot to get them both to the party. 

As it turned out, his little white lie had been a lot more successful. 

“Kaiba…” Atem said, sighing in a not now sort of way. 

“I mean, you do have a good rating, unlike Jonouchi here. You won points against me. That isn’t something you should just throw away.”

“Those points are Yugi’s,” Atem said heatedly. His gaze twitched to the others at the table, who were starting to look awkward around the rising tension. “Please. I don’t want to interrupt the celebration.”

Mai picked up her drink, swilling the liquid around before raising it to her smiling lips. “Guess that’s a no,” she said softly. 

Everyone went back to eating, with the exception of the Pharaoh, sitting quietly at the table looking at his hands clenched in his lap. His friends noticed, though, sharing glances with one another and then each other. 

It was Honda who broke the silence first, surprising everyone. “So how long we got you for?”

“What?”

“You’re gonna hang out for more than just this party, right? Not that the party isn’t pretty rad and all,” he said, directing that at Kaiba. Kaiba just grunted an acknowledgement. 

“I – sure. I’d like to. If you’ll have me.”

“What’re you talking about?” Jonouchi sputtered. “Of course we’ll have ya! Right, Yug?”

“Yup,” Yugi said, but there was a tension under his smile that was mirrored in the look on Anzu’s face too. 

Mokuba looked over at Kaiba and then the rest of the table, seeking a distraction. “Hey, how about some cake?”

And everyone chimed in to agree, happy for the distraction. 

~ ~

They hadn’t all finished eating dessert when Atem left the table, telling Yugi he intended to just go explore the Dome for a bit and would come back to the food court soon. 

Jonouchi swallowed the big bite he’d been eating, saying, “Should someone follow him?”

“He’ll be fine,” Mai said, twirling her fork between her fingers. “After all, he’d handled himself fine all the time he was with you, right, Kaiba?”

Heads once again turned to Kaiba. 

Yugi’s features turned uncharacteristically harsh and he asked, “Wait. Just how long has he been here, Kaiba?”

Kaiba bristled. “He...was here a week or so some time ago. I persuaded him to come back so we could duel.”

“Back?”

“Seto fired himself into the Afterlife in a rocket,” Mokuba supplied helpfully. Everyone’s jaws dropped. 

“Kaiba! Did you really?” Anzu said, aghast.

“It was more sophisticated than that,” Kaiba said, glaring at his little brother. “I hope you all realise what I’ve done is just as revolutionary as the new duel disk system. More so, even!”

“We all know you’re ego’s big as it ever was,” Jonouchi said, rolling his eyes. But even his words didn’t have any bite to them. 

Naturally. Even the mutt couldn’t argue what a gift Kaiba had given them all, Seto noted smugly. 

“He was here a week and you didn’t call me?” Yugi pressed. 

Kaiba shrugged. “Yes – but that was Atem’s decision. He intended to come back solely for the duel and to put the Millennium Items out of commission for good. And actually, he wouldn’t have come back a second time at all if I hadn’t knocked some sense into his thick head.”

“You did?” Honda said, wrinkling his nose. 

“Of course he did,” Mai said, rising and brushing down her skirt. “And I couldn’t be happier for you, Kaiba.” She grinned wickedly. “Goodness only knows you could use some friends.”

And she walked off herself, leaving the rest of the group gaping after her. 

But then Kaiba realised they were staring at him, too, as if he’d grown two heads. He frowned. “What?”

“She just said the F word and you didn’t contradict her,” Jonouchi pointed out. 

Kaiba scowled. “Get over it. You’re not the only one who can change.”

And he stood, too, intent on doing a little exploring of his own. 

~ ~

It didn’t take Kaiba long to stumble across Atem. Like usual, he had found a high up spot for brooding, on a balcony. What he didn’t anticipate was that Mai was there already, leaning against the railing to talk to him. Kaiba ducked out of sight, uncertain he wanted to interrupt if that damn woman was there, too. He was debating leaving when Mai asked the question Kaiba had been wondering on and off for most of that evening.

“You OK, Atem?” 

“Yeah,” he said, unconvincingly. “It’s good to see you, Mai. All of you. I didn’t give you a proper goodbye before I left, did I?”

“I’m a big girl. I’m not mad about it.”

“Hm.” He drummed his fingers on the balcony, staring out over Domino at night. It was getting late, the night winding down with that late-party energy Kaiba had experienced at a few business outings before. 

“Loving the earrings and the jewellery,” she said, tapping one with her finger. “This is a much better look for you.”

“Thank you, it - it...feels better, somehow.”

“What’s the Afterlife like? Grapes and attendants with palm leaves?”

He chuckled. “Not exactly. It has its own systems to maintain that have kept me busy.”

“Do you like it there?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“But you need a break sometimes?”

“You think this is a break for me?” he said suddenly, looking over at her with a charged expression. 

“Is it a problem if it is?”

“For the others. Maybe. No one else is taking a break. Everyone’s moving on, as it should be.”

Mai bumped him with her shoulder. “Old Grumpy Bear didn’t tell you Yugi and all of us would be here, did he?”

Atem’s hands clenched on the stone. He looked away. 

“...Thought so,” she said. Then her tone change. “It’s like I said. I’m a big girl, I won’t take it personal. But I am curious why you wouldn’t want to see Yugi and the others.” She chuckled. “You used to get so mad when I’d talk down to Jonouchi, it was kinda funny. You were all so tight.”

“I’d rather not think about Duelist Kingdom. I was different then.”

“So was I.” Another shrug. “So was Kaiba. So what?”

“It’s nothing.”

There was silence until Mai spoke again, more softly this time. “It grew on me, you know. The atmosphere around all of you. I started to want it for myself. I think Kaiba’s the same, but he’d never admit it.”

Kaiba almost gagged at that. This eavesdropping had been a bad idea. But then Atem said, “Yeah,” and chuckled almost fondly, maybe the most genuine he’d sounded since things had gotten tense. “I think you’re right about that.”

“So how about you? Do you want to have that again, too?”

He sighed shortly, like he’d been expecting the question. “I need to be careful, Mai. I really do like seeing you all, but I bring danger no matter where I go. I’m the last conduit of magic in your realm, so far as I know – with that comes responsibility. If people start asking questions, this will get traced straight back to Yugi. How could it not be? He only looks like my twin-”

Atem cut off suddenly and Kaiba could see from their shadows that the woman was hugging him. Not a move Seto would have considered to snap Atem out of his latest dumb doom spiral, but it did the trick in shutting the Pharaoh up. 

“I think you and Kaiba and me are all similar in a lot of ways,” Mai said softly. “We put up walls. We do damage control. The name of the game might change between the three of us, but the game’s ultimately the same, y’know?”

“I’ve hurt Yugi by coming back,” Atem mumbled, voice muffled against her shoulder. Kaiba sighed from behind the door, running a hand through his hair. He was about to break cover and hit Atem with a lecture of his own when Mai said something he didn’t expect.

“Yeah, probably.” She laughed, their shadows separating into two people again as she pulled away. “But you’ve made him happy, too. Didn’t you notice how everyone looked when they saw you? Jonouchi damn near cried.”

“But-”

“Listen. You don’t have to do everything all at once. But one of the things I’ve learnt while I’ve been with your little cheerleader squad is that things are just...better, when you allow yourself to have people in your life. Allow yourself joy. All right?”

“...Mm. I’ll try.”

There was a moment’s pause before Mai said, “You understand I’m not giving this pep talk for free, right?”

“Wait, you - you’re not?”

“Nope. You, little king, owe me a duel.” She punched him on the shoulder. “And a coffee date, when you come out of the rock you’re hiding under. I bet the girls won’t leave you alone when you’re not a secret anymore, so friends come first, got it?”

“Well, I - I don’t know about all that, but – the rest of your terms are acceptable.”

Mai chuckled. “Good. Cause you’re gonna have a full calendar, one way or the other.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes and walked off. Looked like Mai had this handled, after all. 

Still, the thought of dealing with the cheerleaders more often didn’t exactly fill him with cheer. 

That was just the price he’d paid for forcing Atem out of the shadows, he supposed.

~ ~

Kaiba kept to the fringes of the party after that, waiting for Atem to come talk to him. He watched from a distance as the Pharaoh approached Yugi, and they had a very obviously intimate conversation – just him and the other four – that ended with a big group hug. It was obvious Yugi had already forgiven Atem his secrecy once explanations were given, the soft person he was, but Kaiba couldn’t find it in him to keep up the sneer for long when he saw how happy the group looked. 

An unfamiliar feeling came over him, one that he never expected to have looking at the scene. 

Jealousy. 

The cohesion of the group was obvious even watching from a distance, Atem’s fears about being an outsider obviously unfounded with how easily he fit back in. It was like they’d all jumped back to high school, their bond not diminished in the slightest for all the time that had passed. 

Mokuba came and sat next to Seto, slumping against him in that way that said he was all partied, bath and bedtime now, please. Seto smiled dimly. He might not have a big group of friends, but he supposed he did have solid bonds of his own as a start. His brother, his closest. And now Atem to that number. 

Maybe even Atem’s stupid friends, in time. He caught Mai’s eye as she headed out the door to go home, and she shot him a knowing little smile. 

Well, some of them, anyway. 

“You did it for him, didn’t you?” Mokuba said, in a distant and drowsy voice. “Since he kept putting off seeing Yugi and all.”

Kaiba shrugged. “It’s friends and family at Christmas, right? I know I don’t get it, but he does. His place is here, not hidden away in Kaiba Corp.”

“It is gonna be total chaos when people find out about him.”

“Mhm.”

“Imagine what the Ishtars will say!”

“I’ll handle that when it happens.”

“Never change, big brother.” Mokuba stood, patted him on the shoulder. “Need a comfort break. I’ll be right back.”

Just as he stood to go, he passed Atem, who was walking straight over to him. Kaiba straightened up as Atem settled into the booth opposite him, giving him a hard look. 

“Was this supposed to be mine, too?” he asked.

“Yours?”

“Christmas gift. Is this what you’re giving me?”

“Yeah.” Kaiba folded his arms. “What? Not good enough for you?”

Atem looked down, considered. He looked over his shoulder at his friends, smiling at some antics Jonouchi and Honda were pulling. “...No,” he said finally, turning back to face him. “I think this will suffice.”

Better at least than a tongue lashing about duty and responsibility and all that garbage, Kaiba figured. He’d evidently underestimated Mai in the past, too. He wouldn’t do that again. 

“Hmph,” he said simply. “Then you’re welcome.”

There was a moment’s pause before Kaiba asked, “So where’s mine? Gift, I mean. If you’re going to be sticking around, the least you can do is join in with this sort of nonsense if I have to.”

The warning not to push it didn’t come. Instead Atem just grinned. “Already have that planned out.” He gestured to the Kaiba Dome’s facilities away from the bar. “You did bring us here for a reason, right? Whatever game you want before the day's out – it’s all yours. That’s what I’m giving.”

Mokuba had returned from the bathroom and overhead some of their conversation. “What? Who’s giving something?”

“I am,” Atem said, looking up with a smirk. “My first Christmas gift in Domino. It ought to be something appropriate, don’t you think?”

~ fin ~


End file.
